emttut

Has anyone heard any recent news on the proposed changes to the National Curriculum. The change that I am most interested/upset about is the the changes to the Intermediate Level. I've been informed that they are planning on "dumbing down" the I curriculum so that it is more closely related to the old curriculum. I was informed that this is because there are many states that are currently not "accepting" the current I curriculum. If this is true, I feel that it is a huge step backwards.

Coming from the point of view of someone who is also in law enforcement, definitely do not flush it. The best thing in your situation to do is to turn it over to your supervisor (who will hopefully turn it over to police) and then document, document, document. Regardless, as Dustdevil stated, just make sure what ever you do you are consistent. As for the parents bringing up a law suit, it is more than 100% likely that the pt will have blood work done at the hospital. Regardless of the question of who the bag belonged to, if the pt used it will so up.

I just want to start off by stating that since I started coming to this sight, I have found most of the discussions to be extremely interesting and informative. However, after reading all of the responses left on this one topic, I have become almost outraged! Yes, in an IDEAL world every person would receive care from a paramedic. However, we do NOT live in an ideal world. You state that there should be no excuses for needing people that are trained at any level below paramedic, but do you live in or deal with many small rural communities that inhabit our great nation? Most of these communities are fortunate to have caring individuals that give up their time to help support and protect their friends, neighbors, and families. Most of these people do this and hold down another full time job. Yes, some of them may be unfortunately not as "educated" as they should be, but by your comments you have seriously disrespected them. Did you ever think that help of any kind is better than no help. I personally live in an area where they had to shut down the ambulance service of a local community because unfortunately they could no longer staff it. Now they have to wait at least 20 minutes for a paramedic unit to arrive from a larger town. Tell me, what good will the patient receive from the use of that ET tube after receiving no care at all for 20 minutes? If they still had their basic unit, at least the patient would be receiving some care, and as in most cases, they would have intercepted with the paramedic unit in major cases allowing for ALS treatment. Secondly, I personally take offense at the way you talk about the Basic level. You talk as if all EMT-B's are nothing but ignorant, bumbling idiots. I will have you know that I am not. Yes, I will agree that the level of training in some areas of the country may not be up to par with the way things should be, but I feel that I have not only been trained well but have continued to take that base level training and expand my knowledge base. Furthermore, if the individual does not continue to learn and improve himself after receiving their training, it doesn't matter if they received training as a basic or a paramedic. A paramedic can be just as ignorant as a basic, AND you give them more things to use. One of the reasons I started coming to this website was to further my knowledge and information base. However, if all you want to do is generalize, downgrade and disrespect people, I might have to rethink my decision. So, yes I agree, get down off your para-god pedestal and join us uneducated mortals in the real world.

Just FYI--In the Illinois EMS system, EMT-B's ARE allowed to check the blood sugar levels of individuals. However, it would be smart to check with someone in your EMS system as to what you are allowed to do in your protocols. Just because it is allowed in the state, it may not be allowed in your system. For example, I have heard of local systems here in Illinois not allowing EMT-B's to do procedures such as albuterol treatments or give oral glucose. They are only allowed to pretty much just load and go. While others such as the one I'm in have a much freer time of things. I hope this helped.

You just need to learn to take a step back and gain some perspective on things. You have to realize that most of the patients your transporting in this condition are mentally ill. Try not to take things personally. I too have been affected by suicide in my family. I have a grandfather that I never was able to know just because he decided to "end it all". It can be difficult, but we are there to help these people.